The Convention of 1833 (April 1–13, 1833), a political gathering of settlers of Mexican Texas, was a successor to the Convention of 1832, whose requests had not been addressed by the Mexican government. Despite the political uncertainty succeeding from a recently concluded civil war, 56 delegates met in San Felipe de Austin to draft a series of petitions to the Alamo. The volatile William H. Wharton presided over the meeting.
Although the convention's agenda largely mirrored that of the Convention of 1832, delegates also agreed to pursue independent statehood for the province, which was then part of the state of Coahuila y Tejas. Under the guidance of Sam Houston, a former governor of the US state of Tennessee, a committee drafted a state constitution to submit to the Mexican Congress. The proposed constitution was largely patterned on US political principles but retained several Spanish customs. Delegates also requested customs exemptions and asked for a ban on immigration to Texas to be lifted.
Some residents complained that the convention, like its predecessor, was illegal. Nevertheless, Stephen F. Austin journeyed to Mexico City to present the petitions to the government. Austin, frustrated with the lack of progress, in October wrote a letter to encourage Texans to form their own state government. The letter was forwarded to the Mexican government, and Austin was imprisoned in early 1834. During his imprisonment, the Mexican and state legislatures later passed a series of measures to placate the colonists, including the introduction of trial by jury. Austin later acknowledged, "Every evil complained of has been remedied."
Background
Mexico won its independence from Spain in 1821. After the new country's monarchy was overthrown, the Constitution of 1824 established a federalist republic, composed of multiple states. Sparsely populated provinces were denied independent statehood and instead merged with neighboring areas. Mexican Texas, which marked the country's eastern border with the United States, was combined with Coahuila to form the new state Coahuila y Tejas.
Texas was part of the Mexican frontier, and settlers faced frequent raids by native tribes. Bankrupt and unable to provide much military assistance, the Mexican government legalized immigration from the United States and Europe In 1824 in the hope that an influx of settlers would discourage raiding. As the number of Americans living in Texas increased, Mexican authorities became apprehensive that the United States intended to annex the area, possibly by force. To curb the perceived threat, the Mexican government passed the Law of April 6, 1830, which restricted immigration from the United States to Texas and called for the first enforcement of customs duties.
thumb|upright|General [[Antonio López de Santa Anna's revolt against the Mexican government gave the Texians an excuse for their own rebellion.|alt=Lithograph depicting the head and shoulders of a middle-aged clean-shaven man wearing an ostentatious military uniform.]]
In 1832, General Antonio López de Santa Anna led a revolt against President Anastasio Bustamante's centralist government. Under the pretext of supporting Santa Anna, a small group of armed Texians overthrew the commander of the garrison, which was enforcing the new customs duties. Other settlers followed their example, and within weeks, all of the Mexican soldiers in eastern Texas had been forced to leave.
Buoyed by their military success, Texians organized a political convention to persuade Mexican authorities to weaken the Laws of April 6, 1830. Although the two municipalities with the largest Tejano populations, San Antonio de Béxar and Victoria, refused to participate, 55 delegates met in October for the Convention of 1832. They adopted a series of resolutions that requested changes in the governance of Texas. The most controversial item was for Texas to become an independent state, which would be separate from Coahuila.
Before the list of concerns could be presented to the state and federal governments, Ramón Músquiz, the political chief of the Department of Béxar, ruled that the convention was illegal. The law directed citizens to protest to their local ayuntamiento (similar to a city council), which would forward their concerns to the political chief. The political chief could then escalate the concerns to the appropriate governmental authority. The president of the Convention of 1832, Stephen F. Austin, traveled to San Antonio de Béxar to garner support for the changes the convention had requested. Austin found that the Tejano leaders largely agreed with the result of the convention but opposed the methods by which the resolutions had been proposed. They urged patience since Bustamante was still president and would not look favorably on a petition from settlers who had recently sided with his rival, Santa Anna. The political uncertainty made Austin urge for the federal government to be given several months to address the petition. If no action was eventually taken, he advised that Texas residents would form their own state government and essentially declare independence from Coahuila, if not from Mexico. Elections were scheduled for March.
Communities in Texas elected 56 delegates for the new convention. The majority of the delegates to the previous convention had been more cautious. Delegates elected William H. Wharton, a "known hothead," as president of the convention Several delegates argued that the recently concluded civil war had left Mexico in too much turmoil to provide effective rule for Texas. Echoing the American Revolution slogan "no taxation without representation," one delegate insisted that Texas was not bound by Mexican laws since its settlers had no representation. That delegate overlooked the fact that Texas had been granted two representatives to the Coahuila y Tejas legislature.
Austin presented an overview of the events that had occurred in Texas and in the rest of Mexico over the previous year. He enumerated several grievances against the political and judicial systems and concluded that Texas needed to become an independent state. That could be justified, in his opinion, by language in the Constitution of 1824. The executive branch structure, proposed by Austin, called for a governor, who would serve two-year terms. The state would have a bicameral legislature and a three-tier judiciary system, with local and district courts ultimately kept in check by a state supreme court.
A 27-article bill of rights, Delegates also agreed to protect "free communication of thoughts and opinions," a phrase that was carefully drafted to imply freedom of speech, of assembly, and of the press. Although it could also be interpreted to imply freedom of religion, The proposed constitution forbade the English practices of primogeniture and entailment by following a change made to Spanish law in 1821. Delegates retained the traditional Spanish prohibition of seizing a debtor's physical property and extended it to forbid imprisonment as a punishment for debt, which was a novel idea.
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One of the resolutions would have been more suited for passage by a state legislature than a group of concerned citizens. Perhaps to atone for some of the more revolutionary items that they had requested, as one of their final acts delegates passed a resolution that condemned the slave trade within Texas. African slaves were still imported into Texas occasionally, and a ship carrying slaves docked in Galveston Bay as the convention met. The ship, like most others that were used to import slaves, came from Cuba, which was a possession of Spain. Because Spain did not officially recognize Mexican independence, delegates considered that trade treasonous to Mexico.
Delegates ordered for the resolution to be printed in newspapers in the Mexican interior and in New Orleans. which clearly indicates that it was intended to influence public opinion in the Mexican interior, rather than in Texas. The resolution was not binding, and slaves continued to be imported to Texas through Cuba. Other residents suggested that the capital of Coahuila y Tejas should be moved to San Antonio de Béxar, which would give Texas more power. There was precedent for that since under Veramendi, the capital had just been moved from Saltillo to Monclova. If the legislature rejected the move, those residents vowed to support separate statehood.
The third group of residents believed that the convention, like its predecessor, was illegal. Under their interpretation of the laws, only the state legislature could petition the Mexican Congress for such a drastic change. Austin wrote that "the people here agree in substance with the rest of Texas, but differ as to the manner, and will express no opinion for, nor against."
Seguin declined to accompany Austin. Miller also withdrew. Austin then visited Goliad but was unable to attract any more Tejano support. He chose to go to Mexico City alone; he had visited several times and had established a good reputation among government officials. Although he was warned that his reception would likely be poor, he ignored suggestions to delay his journey. Much of the country was clamoring for a return to centralism, yet Texians wanted to take further steps toward self-rule. When Austin arrived in Mexico City on July 18, several Mexican states had engaged in minor revolts against Farías's reforms. Although Texians had expelled troops within their province before Santa Anna and Farías took office, many officials identified the province with the other rebellious states and were suspicious of Austin's intentions. In what could be interpreted as an inflammatory gesture, Austin signed his letter "dios y Tejas" ("God and Texas"), rather than the traditional Mexican closing "dios y libertad" ("God and liberty"). A few days after he had posted the letter, the immigration ban was repealed, assuaging one of the major Texian concerns. At that member's request, the ayuntamiento of San Antonio de Béxar forwarded the letter to state officials in Coahuila. Francisco Vidaurri y Villaseñor, ordered Austin's arrest. Austin was arrested in December on suspicion of treason. He was imprisoned in all of 1834 and remained in Mexico City on bond until July 1835. Several American legal concepts, including trial by jury, were introduced to Texas, and English was authorized as a second language. Finally, the state created four new municipalities in Texas: Matagorda, San Augustine, Bastrop, and San Patricio.